Cross Border Tax Blog

Owning real estate in Canada while living abroad has tax consequences. Non-resident taxes on Canadian real estate apply whether you earn rent or sell the property at a profit. Canada taxes income sourced in the country, even if the owner lives in Malaysia, the U.S., or anywhere with a mailbox and Wi-Fi. The key factor…

Canada and U.S. property tax rules shift when residency changes. Knowing the Canada U.S. property tax before moving helps prevent withheld proceeds and double-taxed gains later. Canada taxes based on residency, not citizenship, while the U.S. taxes citizens and green-card holders on worldwide income. The overlap creates risk, but the treaty resolves who taxes what,…

Estate planning in Canada just went through an upgrade in transparency. As of the 2023 tax year, most trusts must now file a T3 return every year and disclose details about trustees, settlors, and beneficiaries. These Canada trust reporting changes apply to formal estate trusts and informal arrangements, including bare trusts, which received a temporary…

A U.S. company doing business in Canada faces two tax systems. Compliance is tricky but manageable when laws don’t collide, and they rarely do. The real complication is overlapping taxing rights, and the fear of paying tax twice on the same income. To keep trade from evaporating, the Canada–U.S. Tax Treaty steps in. Its mission…

Many clients ask how to reduce their tax burden, and that conversation often leads to deeper discussions about family wealth, estate structure, and cross-border implications. Understanding Canadian tax basics helps avoid unnecessary tax, prevent family disputes, and reduce the risk of unpleasant surprises at death or during corporate restructuring. Even well-informed business owners frequently hold…

Why should a Canadian resident care about “non-resident tax issues”? Here are a few reasons: 1. If a person purchases “taxable Canadian property” (the most relevant example of which is real property situated in Canada) from a non-resident of Canada, the purchaser is required to withhold 25% of the entire purchase price and remit it…